An Interim Dismissal Without Prejudice Did Not Dispositively Determine Who Prevailed.
Tenant, during the COVID-19 pandemic, successfully demurred to a landlord complaint on the basis that the lawsuit was premature given pandemic rules which did not allow the suit to be filed when it was. The demurrer was sustained without prejudice to filing a later complaint. Tenant moved for contractual attorney’s fees as the prevailing party, a request denied by the trial court.
That denial was affirmed on appeal in Ghukassian v. Wolfberg, Case No. E078304 (4th Dist., Div. 2 May 11, 2023) (unpublished). Tenant’s problem was that the interim dismissal was without prejudice to refiling a future complaint, nowhere close to a dispositive ruling on the merits. That meant the prevailing party request was premature. (City of West Hollywood v. Kihagi, 16 Cal.App.5th 739, 753 (2017); Estate of Drummond, 149 Cal.App.4th 46, 49, 51, 53 (2007).)